de Travers seemed made for two lovers.

[*] It is an interesting coincidence that the Duchess whose star was
waning had been in love with the fascinating Austrian ambassador,
Comte de Metternich, and the Duchess who was to take her place,
was just recovering from an amorous disappointment in connection
with his son when she met Balzac.

Knowing Balzac's complicated life, one can understand how, having gone
to Corsica in quest of his Eldorado just before the poor Duchess
breathed her last, he could write to Madame Hanska on his return to
Paris: "The newspapers have told you of the deplorable end of the poor
Duchesse d'Abrantes. She has ended like the Empire. Some day I will
explain her to you,--some good evening at Wierzschownia."

Balzac wished to keep his visits to Madame d'Abrantes a secret from
his sister, Madame Surville, and some obscurity and a "mysterious
pavilion" is connected with their manner of communication. For a while
she visited him frequently in his den. He enjoyed her society, and
though oppressed by work, was quite ready to fix upon an evening when
they could be alone.

It was not without pain that she saw his affection for her becoming
less ardent while hers remained fervent. She wrote him tender letters
inviting him to dine with her, or to meet some of her friends,
assuring him that in her _ermitage_ he might feel perfectly at home,
and that she regarded him as one of the most excellent friends Heaven
had preserved for her.

"Heaven grant that you are telling me the truth, and that indeed I